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My first ever Fantasy post:

I'm heading to an event at my local GW to celebrate the release of Island of Blood, and as part of it I entered a raffle where the winner get a free Battalion of their choice. On the off-chance that I win, what would be the best battalion to get for a complete newbie to Fantasy? I was thinking of Empire or is this a common stereotype that every beginner takes Empire?

Thanks,

Well the best Beginner army in my opinion is Lizardmen since their pretty diverse, they can be painted any way you like and their good at pretty much everything

Empire is a pretty good choice as is High Elves, but Lizards are the best choice plus have the best Battalion

If you're into the fluff behind the armies it may help you decide if you do a little research on their individual backgrounds. If that doesn't excite you I would hop over to the GW site and check out the models for the different armies. Battalion boxes are nice but mostly you are going to have to expand on them anyway so picking an army that actually interests you and that you would want to paint and dump money into is the best way to go. You won't be a newbie for long so go with what you like most.

Go empire! their BT is more expensive than most!

But problem is, the numbers arent very friendly. you'll still need more troopers and greatswords dont do much. But they look cool (still kinda prefer my Perry though. I still get plate armor but at a cheaper price! no swords though)

WHFB requires so much commitment to an army (a few hundred dollars/pounds, time to paint, time investment to learn the rules, etc.) that GW has been very careful to ensure that pretty much every army could be played right out of the box by someone fairly new to the game.

Are there some that require more tactical thought than others? Sure. Are there some with more special rules than others? Yes, but ultimately, these things are just a few more practice games or pages of rules to read.

Now, having said that--pick the army that has the models that most appeal to you. You'll have infinitely more fun learning to play with an army that you enjoy the look and feel of than an army that someone else stated was a "good beginner's army". Several paychecks later you may hate them and color your perception of WHFB as a result!

There are some pros and cons to certain armies for new players, in my opinion:
--Lizardmen are very reliable because they can have decent leadership and can roll their leadership tests on three dice instead of two. They also have some of the best core infantry in the game. As mentioned, their scales can be painted any color (no, really. I think I've seen everything but pink) and have a very diverse range of units. They can compete in any phase of the game. If I had to declare a good beginner's army, it'd be these guys.
--If shooting is your thing, I recommend Empire or Dwarfs. The former will have a boatload of troops to play with, the latter will be fewer in number but much more solid. Empire if you don't mind taking casualties, Dwarfs if you do.
--If you like having elite, rock hard units that will always be outnumbered, go with Chaos if you like armor, High or Dark Elves if not.
--If you're looking for something unreliable and funny to play, Orcs and Goblins and Skaven have very peculiar play styles that will leave you guessing (Skaven are a rock solid army though).
--If you like cheese, play Demons (Haha. Had too! They don't have a Battalion box anyway)
--If you like cavalry, medieval France, and painting every model like a piece of art, go Bretonnians.
--Ogres... Ogres.
--The two undead races (Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings) are two of those armies that might require a bit more thought and have more special rules. Most generals are having an interesting time with them due to the change in psychology rules from 7th to 8th edition.

Good luck. I hope you win!

You seem to like Empire so I'm just going to give one suggestion, make sure you pick the right color sceme, inside the army book or the heraldry book is a lot of good back story and specific color scemes to match different city-states, and in a way you don't have the freedom of other armies to just pick your own colors as your men have to come from somewhere, but the city-states are varied enough that there should be one you like.